This invention relates to a battery system adapted for use with a marine propulsion system, and more particularly to an improved arrangement for selectively charging and drawing power from two or more batteries.
In many applications a battery is employed for powering electrical devices and this battery is charged by a generator driven by an internal combustion engine. A wide variety of vehicles including marine vessels incorporate such systems.
One type of system is employed on a marine vessel which has a pair of marine propulsion units, a main unit which is powered by an internal combustion engine and a second unit which includes an electric motor that derives its power from one or two 12 volt actuating batteries which may be connected in series by a manual switch. The switch may also be used to change the circuitry so that the batteries are charged by the generator which is driven by the internal combustion engine during operation of the main propulsion unit.
While this type of battery system has certain advantages, it has certain disadvantages as well. For example, it has also been the practice in such a conventional charging system to employ a separate starting mechanism in circuit with a starting battery for starting the internal combustion engine. This starting mechanism has been employed in addition to the manual switch which has been used to change the battery circuitry between an operating and charging state and which has been incorporated into the circuitry so that it functions independently of the starting mechanism.
When the manual switch for the actuating batteries of the electric motor is operated separately from the mechanism for starting the internal combustion engine, there is a distinct possibility that during operation of the internal combustion engine the switch will not be properly set and hence the electric motor batteries will not be charged. Having a separate switch and starting mechanism also adds to the complexity and cost of the system.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved system for selectively charging and using a plurality of batteries.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved system for selectively charging and using a plurality of batteries in a propulsion unit arrangement having an internal combustion engine, a generator for charging the batteries and an electric motor that derives power from the batteries which system includes a single switch for controlling the state of the batteries and for starting the internal combustion engine.